God's message: Don't bet on the Derby

With the Kentucky Derby this weekend and opening day at Del Mar fast approaching, it might be nice to get an expert’s opinion on what I think is a very important topic ---- wagering on the ponies.

Go to Laura Ogden, I was told, she knows everything about horses.

Ogden lives in La Cresta and is someone you’ll probably be reading more about in a few days. She’s done some good things with the Santa Rosa Plateau Foundation.

But this week I’m on a special mission. I wanted to pick her brain about horses ---- the racing kind, that is.

Her family once owned 16 thoroughbreds and they often raced at Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana many years ago. The best part about it, she said, was that she and her husband could take the whole family down there, spend a day at the races, and feed the tribe for less than $100.

You’d think that a former racehorse owner with an eye for being frugal would also know something about wagering on just the right animal. So, as we talked on the telephone this week, I had to ask.

“Can you offer any suggestions ---- you know, expert opinions ---- on what to look for in a horse before you put your money on it?” I asked.

Ogden just laughed.

“No, not really,” she said. “I only made $2 bets and it was usually on a horse if I liked its name. There was one time, though, that I won on every race but one. That was fun.”

So, she bets on the horse’s name. It wasn’t exactly the answer I was hoping for. When I look for an edge in horse racing, sometimes I feel like Charlie Brown. I keep looking for that jackpot, that 25-to-1, big-rumped roan who’ll carry me to glory and line my pockets with gold.

But it never comes. For me, a good day at the races is if I can cover the two P’s ---- popcorn and parking.

Six years ago, in late March I think it was, I flew to Phoenix to visit my aging stepfather and because it was late at night, I took an airporter to his home in Mesa.

On that same van was a man who said that he had just flown back from Vegas and he was very happy. He had a good week at the casinos.

Somehow we got on the topic of horse racing and suddenly, it seemed, he got very serious.

“If you’re looking for a horse in the Kentucky Derby, I’ve got one for you,” he told me. “He’s won some races back in Florida, including the Florida Derby, and has been running very well.”

For me, that little exchange was like divine intervention. Here I was, listening to a man whose face I never saw because it was dark. But there was something in his voice ---- so assertive, confident and righteous.

Yes, I thought, I must remember this. This man is surely an angel and this is a message from God. I even had a dream in the week before the Derby to remind me.